The Collinsport Chronicles XLIV: The Mermaid
by Maryland Rose
Summary: Adam falls under the spell of a mermaid. But she is now what she appears to be.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Barnabas still could not understand it. He hoped that Trask would explain it to him, and that the explanation made some sort of sense.

It had been a simple exorcism. He had been there to complete the circle. Why had he been singled out that way? Why had he been so touched by the warmth that had enveloped them?

Trask sighed. "It would be easier if we were Catholics, then we would say that you called on saints to help, and that your prayers were heard. You, I think that in this Rome is right. We do need saints. We need to rediscover the heroic nature of love and goodness, and to know that when we say blessed are the meek, we do not mean blessed are the wimps. And for that we need to know the lives of the saints. One thing that they were not was wimps. They had a very strong will, or they would not have accomplished as much as they did. The Christian life is the heroic life if we are willing to see it that way."

"That is all right, Reverent, but how come I am now able to cross myself and all that?"

"Because you called on a saint, and he or she took notice of your... heroic virtue and let you know of it by removing that false constraint from your life."

"And what I am supposed to do?'

"Just go on as you have been doing. Only I am expecting you to come show up at evening services at least once a week."

"Go to services?'

"Is there any reason why you can't?"

"No, of course not... But what happened at the exorcism, exactly?"

"You called on the power of love to stop the anger and hurt that Violet represented. You called on people who could be trusted to show that love, people whom you respected and admired, people who had once cared for you, and who could be expected to continue to care from the other side."

"And why should I be the one rewarded?"

"Why not? Because you probably needed it most. It is not ours to questing the designs of the Almighty, only to be grateful for them."

"It is strange to able to... after such a long time."

"You will get used to it fast enough."

"I wonder if I deserve it."

"Of course you do, Why wouldn't you?"

"You meant that it is all over? That all is forgiven?"

"Yes. Why does it scare you so?"

"It does not scare me."

"It does. You believe that you do not deserve much. And now that you have been given this gift, you do not think that you are up to making the best of it. You prefer to stay outside, don't you?"

"I have learned to live with it."

"So learn to live without it. What have you got to lose?"

"You make it sound so... comfortable."

"No, it is not. But it is not as frightening as you make it out to e. And anyway, you are not a man to frighten easily. If you were, you'd not have lasted this long. You'd not be talking to me now. You have survived worse. Why does a blessing scare you so?"

"I do not know why... but yes, it does."

* * *

He had to make sure, Adam thought. He had to find out if there really was a mermaid. Then he'd be certain and...

And then what? What would it mean? Would it mean another chance for happiness, as he had not found in Collinwood?

Or maybe he was just crazy. Or would end up that way. Or catch his death from cold for going out to the beach in this weather.

Yet something told him that today he would find out. It mattered that he was out today...

It was as if he was being led, very gently, towards her. There was a mermaid there, and it was meant for him, only for him. And all he had to do was grab his chance.

There, in the water, why couldn't he see her?

Maybe if he got into the water...

It was cold. He'd catch pneumonia and die, he thought as he took off his clothes. It was madness, he thought, as he walked into the waves.

The water was not cold, to his surprise. It welcomed him, embraced him like a lover.

He swam. It was easy.. so easy... he could swim forever.

And then he knew that he had to dive. He took a deep breath and headed for the bottom.

He swam a long stretch and did not need to come up for air... Was it the bracelet of mermaid's hair that made it possible?

Now, if only the mermaid came to him...

Silvery fish darted by, and with their elongated bodies seemed to point the way in which he should go.

The seaweeds danced as he passed them, their long stems brushing against him. They invigorated him with their touch.

And then it was not seaweeds, but coral. He was in a coral palace all red and white... Bright as dead coral never looked on dry land.

And she was there, her green hair trailing after her in the current.

He went to her and extended his arms. She extended hers and their palms touched. Then their lips.

They swam together, the roughness of her fish tails grating his legs.

She let him go and swam away. He did not move. He was happy. Deliriously happy.

She was telling him that he had to go back. He understood that his air would run out if he did not. But he could come back as often as he wished.

And maybe one day he would not need to breathe air any longer...

* * *

"So it is over" Iris still had trouble convincing herself of it. "Violet will not come back."

"Yes. She no longer needs revenge."

"So it is settled. Over. Done with. I should feel relieved and I am. But I also feel a bit cheated."

"You wanted to win your fight with her." Julia said.

"Yes."

"Like her, you can't let go. Everything has to be settled to your satisfaction, no matter how long it takes."

"Is that so wrong?"

"We all want that, at one time or another. And many times it is possible. But not always. And it is best to understand that some issues cannot be settled."

"So what do I do? Resign myself to the way things are?"

"You could do worse. It is called letting go. It is not an easy thing to do, but it is necessary. For your own sake. It sounds like a cop-out, but it isn't"

"I wonder what is it that I should have done about Violet instead of what I did...Maybe all of this could have been avoided."

"It might, and it might not. We will never know. If we were all wise, then we'd always do the right thing and life would be a lot easier. But we are not, and we do the best we can. And when we make mistakes sometimes other people pay for them. It is unfair, but that's how it is. No one has come with a better system yet. I can't tell you what do to, but I can tell you about myself. I do have my own sorrows, just like you."

"You? What could you have"? No, Julia, you have it all together."

"It is not true. I do have my own sorrow, just like you, and I can't fix it. But I have learned how to bear it."

Iris seemed to think it over, then she asked. "What about Delia? You let her go, didn't you?"

"You know that I had to."

"Still, it is unfair that she walks while Violet died and I..."

"It is how it has to be. Accept it."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Howard had invited Roxanne and Derek to dinner to the Vietnamese restaurant.

"Wow!" Derek said with enthusiasm. "This stuff is hot!"

"Well, that's' how you chose it."

Roxanne did not say anything. She was still unsure as to how to handle real food. She was relearning the knife and fork (learning chopsticks on top of it seemed a bit much).

They did see it, but knew it was better not to comment on it. Both Howard and Derek had gone through that awkward phase.

"Can you believe that these people came to the U.S. with the clothes on their back?' Frances said.

"Were they boat people?" Howard asked.

"Yes."

"How did they come here?"

"They needed sponsors, and well, Barnabas volunteered. " Frances said. " Next thing we know, we have Vietnamese. A lot of them went into fishing... They already knew how to fish, so they managed. They started making some food that they sold on the sidewalk. and, well now we have a Vietnamese restaurant."

"Do they know about Barnabas?"

"They found out. But they had been told that they had to adjust to the ways of then U.S. so they figured out that he was part of the strange ways of the U.S. that they had to live with... They have become quite cool about everything."

"I guess that after escaping on a rickety boat, in danger of being caught by pirates, or being turned away, and all those risks, everything is easy to deal with." Howard sighed. He knew about putting things in perspective...

"Yes."

"By the way, you know that we are getting married? " Derek said.

"Married? You two?" Howard was a bit surprised. "That was fast."

"You have any objections?' Roxanne asked.

"No. Just that it was quick., You two coming down there, aren't you?"

"Yes. I remember that you promised me the Department of Education."

"And you'll get it, don't worry. You know what to expect there, of course."

'Basically, we are starting from scratch there." Frances said. "I managed to train a number of nurses' aides and first responders. People who can do ninety percent of the work, that is routine work, and leave me to tackle the other ten."

"I know that it is going to be no picnic there. I don't expect it to be."

"We got a whole country to make over, all by ourselves" Howard's voice got dreamy. "And we are going to do it right. We'll spend the rest of our lives there, and we are not going to be tempted to forget about it, the way people outside will."

"They will not forget!" Derek defended them. "I know them, and we can trust them to keep their word."

"Yes. But we will not be their first priority. I don't blame them. It is just the way it is going to be. With us, we will live with it all the time."

"I know what it is like to be in a reality you can't get out of." Roxanne said. "At least, there are no bullets flying there."

"No bullets and no fear of the secret police. But it will have its own challenges. But we are well qualified for it."

"Then I propose a toast." Derek said. "to the Nelsons, and the Pearces, and their new country."

* * *

"So this is Eliot Collins" Amy said, as Vicky picked him up.

"I am afraid that I failed with David," Vicky said. "If he can abandon his child like this, I must not have taught him well."

"Come on, Vicky" Carolyn sighed. "You did your best. You do not remember the kind of problems David had when you met him. He is alive, and not in jail, so that is something."

"Still, to abandon a baby... Both parents walked away from him... To be abandoned thus" Vicky could no help remembering her own childhood, as nobody's child.

"He's not alone He's got me." Carolyn said. "He's got Edmund as a brother."

"Has Edmund accepted him?" Amy asked.

"Yes. Maybe it is the novelty, but he seems taken up with him."

"How about Roger?" there was an edge to Vicky's voice. "does he treat his grandchild better than he did his children?"

"Roger is OK." Carolyn's tone indicated that Roger was not to be discussed. Yes, he was a lot better since he was taking medication. But she still was angry on how it had been forced on her.

"How about Adam? Is he OK?"

"Why shouldn't he be? He is now painting mermaids, and that keeps him busy."

Upstairs Adam listened to them. He hoped that the visit ended and that Amy and Vicky left without asking to see his paintings.

He did not want to share his mermaid with them.

But he might have to, now that Carolyn had mentioned it. So, he had to put on his "guests" face, fake cordiality, and talk about color and light, and get very technical. And how important the sea was to the community... and... and all the speeches that he prepared in case anyone wanted to know why he painted mermaids...

* * *

"You know my opinion." Megan said calmly to Delia "you cannot be sure that you are free of the desire for the whips and chains."

"It is not pretty."

'No, but it is something that you need. Maybe you are free of it now, but maybe not... Look, you did it for years, discreetly, and you had a good job, and you hooked up with Derek, who is a decent sort. Then one day you decided that you _should not_ do it. So what do you do? Start playing it for real, and hooking up with a severely disturbed woman, which ended in your being arrested, losing your job, and then ending up in Wyncliffe. "

"It was that whip... the slave ship's whip."

"Maybe, but if you had been playing it regularly you'd not have been so attracted to it. Look, you see me? You know what I have to do? What do you think would happen if one day I decided that drinking blood is awful and that I should fight it:? I can tell you what. I'd go crazy from hunger, and then when I could not stand it anymore, I'd attack someone and I would be so desperate that I would hurt or even kill them. That's what happened to Barnabas for a long while. It was not until he got into his head that he _had_ to do it, no excuses, that he became a good neighbor. So it is with you.. If your are diabetic, and don't take your insulin you go into a coma. If you have high blood pressure and don't take your medication, you die. If you have a mental problem and don't take your medication, you end up in the nuthouse. And if you need SM and don't indulge, you end up a criminal."

"So.."

"So you need a job. And I can help you get one. I don't know if you have figured it out, but vampires hang around the health care community. We all have qualified as first responders and nurses' aides. Which mean that I can recommend you to a place that needs a nurse. The person you will talk to will be like me, and will know about your requirements."

"I would have to leave Collinsport."

'Where everybody knows your scandalous story. People can make your life here hard. Better that you should start a new life somewhere."

"Helping out vampires?"

"When they need it. But mostly being a nurse. Think about it. Then come tomorrow tell me what you decided."

Delia left and Megan sat down to consider her _one big problem_. Angelique's baby.

Ideally, Angelique would let George have the baby. Then they could leave for Boston again..

The idea of raising a baby with two mommies and one of those mommies being a vampire was not one to tempt her.

On the other hand, giving the baby to George meant raising a baby with two daddies, one of those being a vampire, not an improvement...

Maybe Angelique and George could get hitched, and she and Barnabas...

Not even funny...

* * *

Quentin was having a drink quietly by himself when Carolyn came in and sat by his side.

"Are you trying to seduce me, cousin?" he asked, without lifting his eyes from the numbers he was adding.

"We are cousins, after all. We are family."

"Distant cousins. And we were once married So, why are you here, forgetting that you are a married woman?"

Carolyn shrugged.

Quentin looked at her. "What? Any problems with Adam?"

She shrugged again.

"What is it? What is wrong with you two?"

"He acts as if he has done nothing. He does not tell me anything. Just has Megan come and force me... force me as she does, so that Roger becomes an outpatient and takes his meds... Of all the dirty, underhanded tricks..."

"Damn it woman! Did you ever tell him that? Did you ever ask him? How stupid can you be? I was the one who called Megan."

'Why?"

"Because, even you did not want to see it. Roger was a going to kill somebody one day. I know."

"It was you?"

"Yes, it was me. And you have been given Adam the silent treatment, punishing for something he did not do, not even bothering to explain..."

"It was you..."

"Yes, my spoiled rotten cousin. If your mother was anything like you, no wonder your father ran away on her and you. And I will not blame Adam if he runs away on you and finds a woman who deserves him."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Adam swam, breathing water in and out. He was not surprised that he could do this. It was so simple. His lungs filled with water, and they expelled it again, effortlessly...

And maybe gills had begun to form on his neck. She had kissed him the last time... maybe that was the reason why.

Maybe he could stay here forever, not have to go back to Collinwood, where there was no room for him. He could stand Collinwood less and less each day. They only thing that brought him pleasure was painting, and even that was palling... but if he could paint the bottom of the sea as it was, if he could paint her...

He came to the place of the giant boulders. It had seemed a palace the last time... maybe it was her palace, only it changed it appearance when she was not there.

It was a striking place. The boulders, upright, were as tall as men. They might be men by their general shape. And the seaweed growing in them resembled hair.

It was like Stonehenge, or Easter Island. There was a hint of ancient rites, of ageless secrets...

A Gallery of Ancients. That's what it was. And he was an interloper. Or a welcome guest? Where they studying him? Deciding if he was Worthy?

He knew that she would let him know when the time came. And now that he saw her approach, he forgot about the boulders. He just went to her eager for what she offered him.

* * *

"I still do not understand it." Barnabas said to Julia "I can accept it better now, and maybe I will go to Reverent Trask's service, but why should I be singled out?"

"Why not?"

"I mean, of all the people who were there, why me?"

"Because you are the one who got up and faced Violet, who took her in your arms. And you needed it."

"You think?"

"You know, there was no real reason why you could not have held a cross in your hands all those years."

"You mean that Willie was right and it was psychosomatic?"

"Well, Willie this time was right."

* * *

Adam looked at himself in the mirror. Did any of it show? He looked at his neck. There were folds of skin. There. Were they turning into gills?

He ran his hand over his neck. Yes, the folds were there, but the gills had not opened yet.

They would open soon. His body was changing. Or was it? She had promised him that he would join her.

And the next time he saw her...

She had never spoken, how could she without the air to make a sound through her larynx? But they managed to communicate. How did she tell him the things she did? How did he get to ask questions of her? Were they reading each other's minds? Or had they developed a language of gestures so that he could read each and every one of the flickers of her tail?

He still did not know much about her, Were there more like her? She had mentioned her people, once...

And the place of the boulders.. Did it mean anything at all? Did it have to do with her religion?... Did she have a religion at all?

In any case, he doubted that they would have any painters It is impossible to paint under water.

But there are other art forms, and he could find them, once he joined her...

He closed his eyes and saw again the tall boulders, the swaying seaweed, and he wondered, had the stones been alive once?

Why did he wonder about it? What did it matter? She would tell him all the secrets, should he need to know them.

"Adam?" Carolyn came up the stairs "Can I come up?'

"It is your home." he said "Of course, you can.:"

She could hear the hurt in his voice. She had hurt him deeply, she realized...

"If your mother was like you, then no wonder your father ran out on her." Quentin's words stung her, had she driven Adam away?"

"I am sorry, Adam."

"Sorry? What about? Are you sorry you married me? Do you want a divorce and came to discuss terms?"

"I have been unjust with you. I blamed you for something you had nothing to do with... I was so angry.."

"What were you so angry bout?'

"That I was forced to have Uncle Roger treated,"

'Well, you should have done it without being forced to. You see how much better he is."

'But it is the principle of the thing."

"Anyway, as you said I had nothing to do with it."

'No, it was not."

"But you punished me for it anyway. I spent a lot of time wondering what I had done to offend you. And you giving me the silent treatment and looking daggers at me all the time, for nothing that I had done."

"It hurt me greatly."

"And I wasn't hurt then? Or I did not matter?

"I am sorry. I want to change that..."

"You mean that you did not come to ask me for a divorce?"

"No!\

"Why not? If we did you'd find someone you like better. There are plenty of good looking studs out there. Pick any one... I am only yesterday's stud."

"You are more than that."

"More? when did you consider me or my feelings, or bothered to ask my opinion? No, you wanted me only for stud service. That I delivered. I was foolish enough to ask for more. I know my place now."

"Adam!"

"Just tell me what my duties are, and I will fulfill them. Just do me the courtesy of pretending that you care for me."

She flinched at his words.

Had he hurt her? he wondered. Good! Then she'd know how it felt.

* * *

Barnabas felt awkward coming into the church. He had not been inside one for... for longer that he could count.

"I still can't understand it."

"So don't understand. Just accept it."

"I accepted it. Where do I go from here?"

"This is a start."

"Yes.." he looked around. "It's been years since I was inside. I have forgotten what I am supposed to do. I am not sure what it is I believe."

"Now it is a good time to find out." Trask took Barnabas' arm. "Come, I'll show you around."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"He's a bit trying" George said to Julia "now that he is in the middle of a religious crisis."

"He'll get over it. And he's entitled to act a bit silly."

"And I am the one who has to put up with it."

"It will get better. The novelty of it will wear off and he will settle back into a routine."

"Why should it affect him this way?"

"It is no small matter for him. Suddenly his image of himself has been turned upside down. He was not very religious back in the seventeen century, probably from learning religion from his aunt Abigail and others like her. Then he was barred from it, and when he could no longer have it, he began to appreciate what it was that he had overlooked. Now, he can go back and try to make the most of it. But in which way I cannot tell."

"Is religion that great a need, then?"

"Yes." Julia said. "You are young and strong, so you think that you don't need it. But you do."

"I guess that for too long I pictured God as a larger, nastier version of my father. Hard to feel any warmth towards someone like that. Then there was Dave, and all religion could tell me what that he and I were damned for what we did together."

"I know. It is hard to love God when the ones who exhort us to it are downright abominable in our eyes. Yet we did call on those we loved. As Trask said, if we had been Catholics, we'd have called upon saints. That's why they have saints, really. They need to talk to someone is more approachable, more understanding than God.

"Some saints. Naomi was a suicide. Sam Evans was a drunk. Dave was a homosexual..."

"Yet they did the job."

"Yes... I guess there are mysteries in this world, still."

* * *

Maybe he should not have spoken to Carolyn that way, Adam thought. She had received a shock and she needed someone to blame it on.

But why should she blame him? Was he a dumping ground for Carolyn's frustrations?

Even if they made up, and tried again, what then? She' probably blame him for something else and let him know how disappointed she was in him...

No. He had to face it. There was nothing for him in Collinwood. Carolyn had her little circle of Roger and Edmund, and in the end, they were the ones that mattered.

He... he was just stud service...

He looked at the paintings. He was trying to recreate the place of the boulders, with her in the middle, making her real, making he alive for him, while he was still in dry land...

* * *

Derek looked at the family photos that Xavier and Sandy were showing to him. They certainly had several interesting relatives.

"A bunch of bullheaded people, that's what most of them were." Xavier said "And I got plenty of stories to tell. Look at this one. She was with a traveling medicine show in the West. Well, it was not actually a medicine show, it was a lecturer for a rather lunatic brand of medicine, though I must say that the man had a lot of sensible ideas when it came to food. My relative used to write long letters telling the rest of the family what she had seen and done... I still keep them. Maybe I should let some historian take a look."

Sandy showed her own peculiar relatives and Derek laughed good humouredly at them.

He felt good being with them. It was the closes that he had to a family, he had been without one for too long... They had sort of adopted him after he had helped save Xavier's life, and he was surprised how much he enjoyed it.

* * *

Phillip walked on the beach. It was cold and snowy. It was uncomfortable, yet he liked it. Maybe it was that when it was cold, now he could go indoors instead of just swimming with no relief in sight.

He did not remember much of his time as a fish. And he did not like to remember it. If that, at least, Burke Devlin had been kind. He had removed his consciousness of what was happening as he doomed him to the waves...

Well, Burke Devlin was dead. he would not be back. And he was alive, and back with Vicky, watching his son grow up. It was only a bad memory now, each day pushing that memory further and further away...

He looked at the sea, now empty of terrors for him ands aw a speck bobbing up and down the waves.

It was a man. Swimming out there in the cold.

Now it came closer to him, and Phillip thought that he recognized the lunatic. Probably Xavier. He was the one who did things lie this.

He saw the clothes down on the beach. He frowned. These were not Xavier's clothes, not as he remembered them. And Xavier would come out in a bathing suit and robe, not fully clothed.

The man came even closer, and he knew that it was not Xavier.

It was Adam.

"Hey!" Phillip said with surprise "What are you doing here? You'll catch your death of cold."

And then it was the fear. It was starting again. The sea was rising again to swallow up men. Just as when Burke Devlin...

"Don't" he shouted at Adam. "Don't go away to the sea! It will devour you! Come back! Don't!"

Something caught his foot. He stumbled and fell. His head hit the ground and he passed out.

* * *

He came to hours later. His head hurt, and his chest hurt. He had caught cold lying there on the sand.

He had fallen down, he knew. He had stumbled. he had not been watching where he was going. He had been watching something else...

But he could not recall what. He tried thinking about it and all he could recall were waves rising and breaking with monotonous regularity on the beach.. Nothing more.

There was something else. Something that he should remember, that he should tell others about.

"So you came to." Adam aid.

"You..." Phillip said. "I saw you."

"Yes, you did." Adam extended his hand and Phillip saw the green braided bracelet that Adam wore. Adam put a hand on Phillip's forehead. "But you will not remember any of it. It was an accident. You stumbled and fell, as you were watching the gulls, nothing remarkable about it. You were lucky that I came along."

"You were not walking." Phillip struggled to get the hand away from his forehead., where it was beginning to cut him like a knife. "I saw your clothes. You were naked when you went swimming."

"You saw no clothes. You saw no one. You only saw waves and seagulls. And you did not watch where you were walking."

"No..No..It was not that way. Listen to me, Adam. Don't go there. You can't trust the sea. It is cruel. Nothing but razor sharp teeth that grab you and swallow you whole. Don't go to it. Don't...:"

But he could not fight it. He could not move his limbs, and a grey fog began to form behind his eyes, filling his mouth and nostrils, making him sleep and forget.

* * *

"Poor Phillip" Barnabas commiserated. "You don't seem to run out of bad luck."

"It is nothing." Phillip said cheerfully "Just a dumb accident. A superficial cut and a couple of days of rest,."

"But you could have died out there, all alone."

"But I didn't. Adam found me, and here I am. It will teach me to be more careful in the future."

"Still, you _do_ have bad luck. I lost count of how many times I have been by your bedside. When it is not one thing, it is another."

"Maybe. But this one is normal enough. Burke Devlin had nothing to do with this one."

"No, he didn't. But still..."

"Still, nothing. Don't look so glum. It is not your failure, after all."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Quentin had come to a cold realization about t Adam and Carolyn. Had he _not_T done the right thing returning Adam to her. In the glow of his new found maturity, and his shame at his past actions, he had overlooked Carolyn's flaws and made excuses for her.

It had been his fault that she treated him with such disdain, or that their marriage was fully one of convenience...

But he had seen her turn the same mood to Adam, who needed quite a bit of nurturing, not glacial criticism.

That Carolyn had punished Adam for a transgression that he had not committed, and not even bothered to explain to him...

There had been a lot wrong with the way Carolyn had been raised. Megan had done some fixing, but there was a limit to what a vampire compulsion could do against habits learned at a mother's knee.

Now, if David was reenacting Roger's life, there had to be a way to stop Carolyn from reenacting Liz'. Carolyn might decide to take a poker to Adam's head, and this time succeed in killing him, and end up burying the corpse in the basement, and keeping watch over it.

And then raising Edmund and Eliot by herself. Another screwed up Collins generation...

Quentin felt that Adam was his brother now. His younger, reckless brother. He had failed Carl, but he would not fail Adam.

Carolyn was cold towards him. His confession that he had the one to set Megan on her still rattled. But the cold daggers of her eyes no longer hurt him. This time he was in the right, and she in the wrong. None of her veiled barbs could change that.

He saw Eliot, and had to listen to Carolyn's diatribe about untrustworthy men. Surely David deserved her criticism. But Quentin knew that he was included in it, same as Adam. Edmund was at school, and Roger had gone to his therapist appointment. He was glad of that. Talking to Roger might make for unpleasant moments.

"What about Adam"?" he finally asked.

"He's the same. Painting." there was hurt in her voice. Evidently she had tried for a reconciliation and had been rebuffed. Well, what did she expect? "Paints mermaids now... At least it is no more those abstract paintings that you are not sure which side is up. He keeps calling them studies in blue and green, but it is all mermaids. The romance of the sea,, he calls it sometimes."

"It is good that now he paints. For a while he was afraid that he had lost his talent, but it is back."

"Yes. And he paints, and does not care for anything else."

Yes, he does not care for you anymore. Ah, cousin, what did you expect? That you could treat him like dirt and expect him to come wagging his tail when you smiled at him again?

Would the Collinses ever stop screwing up their lives?

He excused himself and went up to Adam's studio, to see those new paintings.

It was the mermaid period all right. Nothing but mermaids from every possible angle. On top of the waves, gliding along the water, playing hide and seek among the seaweeds of the bottom. Remarkable workings of light and colors. And the mermaids were not the cutesy creatures that you might expect in fantasy paintings. They were real. Alien, maybe. Mysterious maybe. But solid. Living creatures.

The color gradation was superb, and he could see how the tan and rosy hues of the skin contrasted and complemented the blues of the surroundings and the silver of the tail. And the silver reflected the light brown of the kelp or the deeper purple of deeper algae.

The workmanship was impeccable. A radical departure from the work that Adam used to do, the one that he knew was becoming stale, a paint-by-the numbers kind of painting. At least in this he was doing well...

"You like it?'" Adam asked him.

Quentin nodded. It was the best work that Adam had done in a long time. Yet something in them made him feel uncomfortable. Maybe it was the _solidity_ of the mermaid... Could it be...? Collinsport had seen so much already...

There was more to the painting that met the eye. Not just technical skill... Or maybe it was Adam's attitude. Defiant and cagey at the same time. Proud of his painting, and yet wishing to hide something about it.

"It is very good."

"I thought you liked it. After all, she is your type."

"And what would be my type?"

"Female. All women are your type, Quentin." Adam laughed easily. "Isn't that true?"

Quentin laughed, too. Yes, it was sadly true.."

It was just banter, but Quentin suspected that there was more to it, as if Adam was hoping to distract his attention from the painting. He wondered how much it had to do with he disappointment of his marriage to Carolyn.

"What about this one?" Quentin indicated a rough sketch that laid on the easel, still waiting for the paint. "It seems like somewhere in New Mexico, All the tall boulders."

"It is the bottom of the sea. There are quite a number of boulders there, too."

"Is there going to be another mermaid here?"

"There are always mermaids."

"Well, this will be the mermaid's Stonehenge, then. "

"Maybe they are left from some volcanic eruption."

"When will it be finished?"

"Not for a while. Painting takes time."

"Not the way the guy on TV does it. He finishes a painting in half an hour."

"If you do not care for detail and color gradations and proper contrasts, yes."

Adam would say no more about it, and Quentin moved to other paintings. Another mermaid, but here she filled the whole canvas, staring straight at them, with half-closed eyes and mouth.

"She looks like a 'Playboy' centerfold" Quentin said.

It was a bad choice of words. "She's not!" Adam said angrily. "It has nothing to do with that kind of trash! This is a whole different way of looking at a woman's body."

"Forgive me. I do have a one-track mind."

At least he had never been able to tell why a naked woman in a magazine was pornography and naked woman in a museum painting was "culture". Maybe one day he'd understand it.

He looked again at the mermaid and noticed how her nipples seemed to reflect the silvery hue of her tail, and how the skin subtly changed to scales. It had been lovingly painted. And it was hard to believe that the model lived only in Adam's imagination.

* * *

Phillip was well enough to go back to work at Collinwood. He kept away from Adam, even though he knew that he had no rational reason to dislike him. And yet something in him bristled, some old fear that he though dead.

It was the paintings, he thought. Those paintings of the bottom of the sea, of a human being that was a fish... Adam made it look romantic and safe, and he knew that it was not so. Yes, the bottom of the sea could be pretty for divers who stayed only for a few minutes, and coral and anemones could be admired for their colors. But coral could cut you, and you'd bleed attracting sharks... And anemones were predators...

There was nothing in the sea that did not prey on anything else.

It was not pretty. Not the way Adam wanted it to be.

And those paintings were now in Collinwood. Under the same roof of where he worked...

* * *

Urien was not very sure that it was the right thing to do. He should talk to Barnabas about it. But Barnabas was too unearthly now for that kind of thing.

He knew that he was ready to go to college. He wanted to go. But he needed Barnabas' approval. Or Geroge pushing for him.

There was no reason not to go to George, except that it made him feel that he was going behind Barnabas' back.

"You wanted to see me kid?" George asked him.

"Yes. I need your help. I would go to Barnabas but..."

"But Barnabas is too busy contemplating the mystery of God's designs for him."

"I it is difficult for me to talk to you."

"Well, our relationship was not what it should be. But it is mending. What is it?"

"I want to go to college." Urien blurted out.

"College?"

"It is about time I went. I know what the problem is. You don't trust me to be all alone. But I could live in a dorm. Or I could live with David, and you'd have him check on me."

"Have you talked with David?"

"No... no but..."

"But David owes us more than one favor. Yes, it would be a good idea. I will talk Barnabas into it.. If he can listen to anything that is nor a sermon nor church music..."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Quentin looked at the paintings. They were good. In fact, very good. New Deale Atwaters, with all the technical ability that the public had learned to expect, and a deeply felt conviction...

Why mermaids:?

Were there mermaids in Collinsport? Or was this Adam's dream woman, now that marriage to Carolyn had turned to be disappointment. Was this Adam's lover?

It was none of his business, Quentin told himself. Adam was well, he was working, and he had to figure out if his marriage was worth saving all by himself.

And yet, there was something about the paintings...

* * *

"Urien to college?' Barnabas shook his head. "You know why it cannot be."

"He is ready for it."

"And what if he is not?" David seemed ready for it, too."

"It is different. Urien has no phoenix for a mother."

"But still needs someone to watch over him."

"We could ask David to do it."

"David?"

"You can ask David to let him stay at his place. He's got the room, now that Eliot is gone, and he owes the family. Why not pay this way?"

"I can't impose on David."

"David thought nothing of imposing on us to take care of Eliot. And if Urien pays rent, what has he got to complain about?"

Barnabas sighed. He did not want Urien to go, not yet. Part of it was sensible objections. But part of it was fear of losing those around him...

And he would lose them sooner or later, whether Urien went to college or not..

"You are right. I will talk to David."

* * *

Adam was not alone on the beach. Quentin trailed him. And behind Quentin, trying to understand his own dread, was Phillip.

Phillip felt cold sweat running down his back as he looked at the sea. The beating waves seemed so soothing, so beautiful. But he knew that it was not so, that it could not be so.

Yet, even as he hated it, it pulled at him.

Why did Adam have to paint those things? He had gone look at the paintings a couple of hours ago, and he had felt sick. He had felt a shock of recognition at seeing the underwater sketch that Adam was working on.

How could Adam know of the place:?... He had seen it somehow, just as he himself must have, while still in fish form, passing through it and registering it in his mind without understanding why.

It was something that he had to explain to himself if he was ever to be free of the terror that the sea evoked in him.

Quentin felt no dread. He was vaguely worried about Adam. But he looked at the sea and saw only beauty in it, as he had done ever since he was a child. He breathed in the salt-splattered air and felt invigorated by it, even as the waves seemed to grow stronger, almost break angrily as he stepped closer.

Adam moved to the edge of the sea, ready to shed his clothes and join her among the Bearded Stones. That was the name of the place, The Bearded Stones. It had come upon him while he slept...

But he listened to the waves. They were warning him, he was not alone, they would discover his secret... No, he'd better leave and come back later.

He sighed. Not now. There would be a time later, but not now.

So he walked away to Collinwood, with Quentin looking at him, puzzled, and Phillip behind, dread eating at him.

* * *

"Sure I'll be glad to keep an eye on him." David said cordially. "Sort of being Big Brother to him."

"Don't say that. I don't want you to be Big Brother..."

"I know. You want me to be a father. Let's make a deal, you and I. I take care of Urien for you, and you don't give me grief about Eliot."

It was a fair trade, and he already realized that would be the deal struck. But Barnabas was still reluctant to agree to it. He owed it to Eliot to press harder...

"Look, I did what was best for my son. No way that I am going to treat him the same rotten way that my father treated me. You and Carolyn will care for him well and love him. That's what he needs. not his closest relative who cannot do the job."

"Why do you sell yourself short?"

"Because I take after my father and I can't stop it. All right, enough said. What am I supposed to know about Urien? What am I to be guarding him against?"

Barnabas sighed. David was just unwilling to accept responsibility and his self-justifications did not wash. On the other hand, why submit Eliot to that kind of a parent?

So instead he told David about Urien and what his problems were.

* * *

Phillip could not sleep. Something was eating him up. The dread that had come upon him since that day he had fallen on the beach would not let him go.

Something was pulling at him. He could not stay in one place, could not concentrate on his job. He had to get up and answer the call. He had to get back to the sea which was calling for him.

"No!" he protested "No, I am free of it. They told me that it was over. It is over... It _has_ to be!"

But he was not strong enough He got and followed that which called him.

He took of his shoes so that Carolyn should not hear him leave his post.

It was a long corridor, which was now deserted, to his relief. There were stairs after that. And at the end of the stairs, Adam's studio...

Adam was not in and he never locked the door.

Phillip's hand froze on the doorknob. He could save himself, still.. He could refuse to enter, he could...

He could do nothing

He opened the door and blinked at the sunlight streaming into it. Nausea threatened to overwhelm him.

The face of the mermaid stared straight at him.

Coldly, as if he were a fish she was about to eat. Mermaids ate fish. What else was there to eat? And he _had_ been a fish.

Then the sea surged at him from all the paintings. And growing from the bottom was the circle of upright stones that was found in a secret recess under the waters...

The upright stones whose number kept increasing...

They were evil, those paintings. They should be destroyed.

He took one of Adam's painting knives. Not enough of an edge, but still, he could put his strength behind it...

He lifted it up, ready to slash the lying face of the mermaid. To answer her lies with a stroke of the knife...

He could not. His arm moved away from the canvas, directed by a will that was not his own.

The mermaid was laughing at him.

He staggered back, shivering and whimpering...

No, not again. It could not be starting again.

He remained there until it was time to leave, after Carolyn gave him a stern lecture about daydreaming on the job.

He sighed. Carolyn did not know what was going on in her own home..

He would tell that to Vicky... But what could he tell her?


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Adam dove into the waters and the waters welcomed him in a cool soft embrace that carried him to the place of the Bearded Stones.

She was here, as he knew she would be. But she did not go to him like the previous times. No, this time it was special. Something was going to happen. Something important.

She put her hands on his shoulders and stared at him. He understood. She loved him. She wished him to be with her forever. But it could not be possible because he was an air breather and she was not.

He showed her his incipient gills, trying to reassure her that way.

It was not enough. He had to earn his gills, and she dared not ask him to risk it.

"What risk?"

It was dangerous. He had to slay a dragon first.

Slay a dragon...He should be afraid, but was not.. It was... fitting. Slay a dragon and marry the beautiful princess, wasn't that how fairy tales worked?

Only this was no fairy tale. This was reality. He was not a child.

Yet he was in Collinsport, the place were fairy tales came true.

And if he found the right equipment, he could slay the dragon. There were plenty of harpoon and diving erumpent to be found in Collinsport...

He kissed her. Yes, she should not be afraid. He would what was needed to earn his gills. She should not be afraid for him.

* * *

Quentin sat by the sea. He could not get those paintings of Adam's out of his mind. Even when he looked at the waves he could not help thinking of what lay beneath. Could it be that down there swam Adam's Playboy Centerfold?... A beautiful woman with peach-rose skin, green hair, slightly pointed teeth, curving inwards, and a silvery tail, with scales that broke the light into a thousand colors.

Did she come solely from Adam's imagination? Or did she really exist, under the waves, in that circle of upright rocks that Adam had begun to paint?

He had to see the paintings once more. Even if it changed nothing, he still had to see them.

Adam was not in his studio, so he could look at each painting at his leisure, and even touch them.

All mermaids, all beautiful, either as women or as paintings. The blue and green symphonies with a few rosy notes to set them off.

That was what Adam said.

Only, it was wrong.

He stared at the huge mermaid that Adam had painted fully upright, as if she stood on two feet instead of swimming as she should be ding. Did that mean that he saw her more as a woman than as a mythologi8cal creature?

There was something about the painting, but what could it be?

He turned and saw Phillip standing by the door... And the look in Phillip's eyes...

"I was looking for Mr. Atwater," Quentin said." And I stopped to look at the paintings.

Phillip did not seem to hear him. He just stared at the mermaid.

"Quite a looker, isn't she?" Quentin commented.

"It is not true." Phillip said." "It is not that way."

"I know." Quentin sighed "too pretty to be real."

"The sea is not pretty at all!" Phillip said vehemently. "It is not pretty mermaids. It is sharks, and others like them! I know! I was there!"

"I know. But Adam is an Artist, and he likes to think that there are such things as mermaids. And they are nice paintings!"

"They are not just paintings! They are lies! They do nothing but deceive and trap us!"

Quentin laughed "You sound like a certain Reverend Trask."

"I don't care what I sound like! It is true! There is no truth in them. And... and..." he could say no more, but looked at the mermaid with hatred.

Quentin looked at the mermaid again. And then it hit him. That minuscule slit where the tail met the human torso.

He had opened plenty of fish in his time, and while it was difficult to tell the sex of a fish with naked eyes, their genital openings _were_ a bit different, specially at spawning time.

The slit was a genital opening. A _male_ genital opening.

A male with human female breasts?... But then what need had fish for milk?

Maybe it was different for mermaids.

No, he had been right. There was something wrong. And Phillip was right, too. It _was_ a lie.

And the circle of stones...

He grabbed the painting. "Tell me, have you seen this place? Underwater?

Phillip paled and shook his head.

"I know you have. You were a fish once. You swam all over the place. And this spot exists. You _must_ have seen it."

Phillip turned his face away. "I don't remember anything of that time."

"I think that you have remembered enough. I think that you can tell me about this place."

"No!" Phillip shook "And even if I did, how could I give you directions? My mind was not working properly then! Please, I had only a fish brain! What could I understand of what I saw?:

"I think that you understood more than you knew. And you can help me and Adam."

"I can't! And there is nothing wrong with Adam! If he wants to paint those pictures for money, what do I care?"

"But you don't like the pictures."

"Still, he's got a right to paint them I only work here. What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to remember."

"You don't have the right to ask me anything."

"I don't" Quentin was suddenly humble. "You are right. But I do need your help. There is something wrong. Something evil. And I need to know what it is and what do about it. I don't even know what the threat is, nor against whom it goes, but if I don't do something about it, we will find out in a most unpleasant way."

That seemed to convince Phillip. Or it was maybe that someone took him seriously about the paintings. "I want to help. But how?"

"Have you ever been hypnotized?"

"Once, by Dr. Hoffman."

Quentin was a bit afraid to try it. What if Phillip reverted because of it? How could he fix that? But something had to be done, and Phillip was the only one who could tell him how.

He put Phillip under, and slowly, carefully, he made him describe the path a fish would take to go from the covers under Widow's Hill to the stone circle.

Finally, he had enough, and let Phillip wake up.

"Thanks, Phillip. I now know how to get there."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Anselm Trask approached the kneeling Barnabas. "It will be dawn soon." he warned him gently "you should be gone."

Barnabas nodded, but was still reluctant to rise. It had been so long that he had walked into a church and done this.. That he had wanted to. And now that he recognized his hunger, now that it was at last being satisfied, he could no break the hold.

"Mr. Collins... Barnabas.. if you do not leave now, it will be the end of you."

"Maybe that's how it should end."

"That's nonsense. You were not given this... gift so that you could die here, but to live and make something of it. Maybe there is a reason for it, some way that you can put it to use, and it is selfish of you to want to die now."

"You think so?"

"Yes."

Barnabas sighed and got up. "Yes, you are right. But it felt so good here."

"You can always can come back, as you wish."

* * *

Adam lost no time looking for diving equipment. A good harpoon would decide the contest in his favor. There was a limit to the size that a diver could carry, but still, there was plenty to choose from. Maybe even a net to throw over the dragon, like the gladiators of ancient Rome did with their opponents. It didn't always work. Many of them got killed in spite of their skill.

Then there were the chemicals. Shark repellent. Other colored chemicals which, in a pinch, could be used as camouflage, the way squids use their ink.

The array of weapons with which to slay this dragon was immense. Now he had to choose wisely.

* * *

The mermaid swam around the Bearded Stones, circling more and more closely the small cave where the female of his species lived. Soon she would emerge from hibernation and the mating would begin. All his body demanded this mating, and he dared again to come close to the female, whom it was wise to avoid while she watched over her eggs or herded her young.

And still, when she emerged, hungry after her period of rest, it would not be wise to approach her until she had fed. That's why the mermaid needed the human diver. Having sated her hunger with him, the female would allow the mermaid to mate, and then allow him to depart unharmed.

The vibrations of the water told the mermaid that something was approaching. A creature large enough to be dangerous...

The mermaid disappeared in a crevice as the large black shape moved closer. It was human, with its tail split in two, but it was encased in black skin and carrying a long thing that mermaids had learned how dangerous it was. And there was no mental control on this human... Better to hide from this strange human...

Quentin reached the ring of upright rocks and looked at them.

Yes, they were just as Adam had depicted them. Tall boulders, somewhat man shaped. And the floating kelp created the illusion of hair and beards.

Adam just _had_ to have seen this. He had had to come down. here.

But you could not reach here without scuba equipment. Equipment that he was sure that Adam did not have...

So how had Adam come here?

There was a small cave at the bottom of one of the boulders. And there seemed to be something in there. Some animal...

He saw the long tail. Somewhat more reptilian looking than fish... and at the other end something wiggled.. he tried to make it out.

He pulled out, quickly aware of what he had seen. Snakes, living snakes coming from what seemed a head.

A Gorgon.

Snakes for hair. They petrified you when their eyes met yours.

He looked at the boulders again.

Man shaped? How many of them had been men? And the other boulders, didn't the look like sharks and other predators?

He swam up, dreading to hear that thing stir and run after him. It would catch him and...

But he reached the surface easily enough. And he could swim back to shore without disturbance.

What had Adam gotten himself into?

* * *

"It is about time we went back to Collinsport." Maggie said. "I can't neglect the local population for long."

Sabrina nodded. Of course, Maggie still wanted the Senate seat, and a trip back home, touting all she had done for them would help - the Davenport Center had proven a huge success which Maggie milked for what it was worth. - And she was also a local girl who had done well.

But there was yet another reason why Maggie would want to go back to Collinsport.

"Of course, if you don't think that Elena should make the trip, after her cold..."

So it was that. She wanted to go to Collinsport alone, without Sabrina to run interference. And showing concern for Sabrina's daughter was the way she chose to do it.

Maggie wanted to go back to Collinsport to trash the same story with Barnabas...

Sabrina wondered why Barnabas put up with the emotional blackmail that Maggie pulled on him. Well, guilt feelings had a lot to do with it. But she knew that one day Maggie would push Barnabas too far. With luck he would simply slam the door on her nose. Without luck...

"Don't worry about Elena. I can managed. And it is better that I tag along and run interference in case Barnabas gets some crazy idea or other."

"I don't think that there is any danger."

"Remember the last time, how he lost control."

"That was not his fault."

"Have you considered what might have happened if he did not stop in time? There is no political future for someone who cannot make roll call because she is sleeping in a coffin."

Maggie sighed. She just could not get rid of Sabrina...

But in Collinsport she could manage to ditch her and meet Barnabas to tell him what she wanted to tell him.

Sabrina knew what Maggie was thinking. Well, she had to really keep a close watch on Maggie. Or tell Barnabas to leave town for a while...

* * *

"Phillip? What is the matter?" Vicky said, alarmed at the way Phillip sighed and stared ahead.

"Nothing is the matter."

"No, Something is bothering you. Even since you fell on the beach you have not been feeling well."

"They say that it will go away by itself."

"But there is something bothering you. Something that is getting to you. Is in in this house?"

"Not this house..."

'Where? Collinwood?"

Phillip nodded.

What was Phillip afraid of?

She knew the answer. The sea.

If Adam had not found Phillip the sea might have reclaimed him...

Phillip had to get away from the sea. And instead he had gone to work in a house that had a wonderful view of it...

And... and there were Adam's paintings. They all said that Adam was painting mermaids. Mermaids from the sea...

If Phillip had seen Adam's paintings, he had seen more sea than he ever wanted to see.

Why had she agreed to let Phillip work for Carolyn? Why had she told herself that the only problem was her strained relationship with Carolyn?

Yes, the relationship with Carolyn was getting better... But at the cost of Phillip's sanity.

They had to move. Find a place farther inland, where no sea could be seen on the horizon. Make a home there. Make a new life there.

Leave Collinsport and its problems once and for all.

* * *

"Barnabas discussed it with David" George told Urien. "And he's willing to let you live with him."

"So I can go?"

"You'll have to get admitted to the University, though."

"I know. I already sent my application."

"Already?" George was amused. "You do not lose any time."

"There seemed to be no point to my wasting time."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

He was out of it. Phillip could not hide his relief. Something was going to happen, now that Quentin was involved, but he, Phillip would not be part of it.

He was moving away, to this town inland. Sent by Vicky to look at a property that she was interested in. Probably live there for a while.

"For we are going to move. I can move my adult classes there, since there is also need down there for what I teach.."

"And leave your students in Collinsport?"

"Buffy can handle them, or most of them. I will be coming regularly once or twice a week, to check on things. But I expect that after she learns a few things she can run the place by herself."

So it was agreed. They would leave Collinsport, make a new life in a place where you did not see the sea, and try to have a normal life...

Still, he had to go to Collinwood once more.

It wasn't right that the paintings be there, he felt. They told lies, they spread evil... How could he be content with going away, leaving Quentin to handle it all? he could to do something about it...

What if it was too much for Quentin? Quentin could fail, after all. And once he failed, who would stop the evil of the paintings?

He had to go to Collinwood...

He was carrying a kitchen knife with him as he entered the mansion. They had not given Carolyn notice yet. He would do it later, after he dealt with those lying paintings...

Would a knife be enough? Maybe he should burn them with gasoline. Destroy them utterly...

But getting in a can of gasoline might not be as easy as sneaking in a knife. A knife should be enough.

He reached Adam's studio and faced her, the lying mermaid. She looked at him straight in the eye and dared him to try to stop her. She was of the sea, and held power over him.

No, no more. He would be stronger.

Nausea filled him. And then a sense of pressure, of being underwater... already gills were opening in his neck, already his skin was being covered by scales...

No, he would not go back. He would not let her do that to him.

And again the thought. All he had to do was go away, as Vicky wanted. He could let the things go on, without concerning himself. Why not take the easy way out?

Because Barnabas had never taken the easy way out when it came to him. Because he could do no less.

He slashed at the canvas with the knife. But the knife cut only air. It did not touch the painting.

She was stronger, then...

No, she was not. She was not! He lifted the knife again, concentration all his willpower on keeping his hand steady. Let that beautiful face be destroyed, let her lies be destroyed.

Then a hand grabbed his wrist.

"What are you doing, Phillip:?'' Adam asked.

Phillip opened his mouth to explain, to warn Adam that something was wrong, very wrong, but Adam's fist got there first.

"You were going to cut her, weren't you?' Adam asked again, beating on him. "Is that what you wanted to do? Tell me! Tell me!"

* * *

The Gorgon slept still. She would awaken soon. She would awaken hungry and ready to mate. there would be food, and there would be an eager male when she came out...

Should there be no food, the male would be devoured...

That's why the human diver was needed, to feed the female's hunger and allow the male to mate with her.

After the mating, the male would leave, quickly, and she would lay her eggs and stay there, protecting them. She would gorge on the fish small enough to be prey, and she would petrify with her gaze any predator large enough to threaten her eggs or her hatchlings...

But the time was not there yet.

The male was attracting fish and tying them with kelp. She would still be hungry after mating, and were the fish not ready, she might yet turn on the male...

If the male's sense of self-preservation was any stronger, he would flee the area and avoid all contact with the ravenous female. But the mating urge was strong in him, Only his cunning in attracting a human to serve as the female's prey allowed him to live and mate...

A couple of weeks after the mating the eggs would be laid, and months later they would hatch. The hatchlings would then be subject to diseases and predators, protected only by their mother's petrifying gaze. For a number of them that protection would be enough. Most of them would be slender and weak males, which would be driven from the nest early on, to survive as best they could, and a few females, who'd remain with their mother till they too acquired the petrifying stare that would defend them and their own progeny one day...

And so it had been for centuries, since the first Gorgons had been spawned.

* * *

"What happened to Phillip?' Vicky tried to get answers.

"Adam beat him up badly." Carolyn sighed "He caught him trying to slash his paintings and he reacted.."

"He had no right to do that!" Vicky said.

"I told him that. He said that I did not understand what his work means to an artist. "

"It was the mermaid. It was the sea." Vicky sighed. "That's why I want to leave Collinsport."

"Leave Collinsport? Why? I thought that we were friends, Vicky."

Vicky sighed. "Carolyn, it is not you. It is the sea. Looking at the sea does Phillip no good. It brings him back to... to what he was... Remember when Barnabas got him in, and you had to fill your swimming pool? Remember what he looked like?"

"Yes." Carolyn could not repress a shudder She had seen what Phillip looked like. She had despaired of his ever being restored. But he had been.

"We were told that the sea might try to claim him again."

"Yes. I was told of it. How he could not have a view towards the sea, nor anything that reminded him of the sea while he recovered."

"Well, he might have been released too soon. Or maybe it was not a good idea for him to stay in Collinsport. There is sea everywhere. And Collinwood was such a nice view of it. A big expanse of sea as far as the eye can see. It is not easy to get away from it."

"Yes. I recall, He did not want to look out of the windows, nor linger outside."

"It was bad enough. But he must have thought that he was safe within four walls. Until he saw Adam's paintings."

"The mermaid?" there was a hint of jealousy in Carolyn's voice. Adam spent much more time with that mermaid that with his wife.

"The mermaid at the bottom of the sea. Phillip saw far more sea that he wanted to. It made him really afraid of having a relapse... That's why I want to take him away, to a town inland, where there is no sea to be seen."

"And that would mean leaving Collinsport."

"Yes, it would."

"I I will miss you..."

"I know you will. But I have to think of Phillip."

"I know that I am not the best friend in the world."

Vicky sighed. "No, you are not. You got a lot to work on in the friendship department. But at least you know how it is done. Make new friends. It becomes easier with practice."

"Is there anything that I can do? I feel responsible. It happened with my husband, under my roof."

Vicky saw Barnabas come in. He did not look happy...

"How could Adam have done that? " he said.

"Artist, you know. Try to destroy one of their works, and they get real mad. At least there is nothing broken."

"Still I want to have a word with Adam."

"Adam does not listen to anyone these days." Carolyn sighed. "though maybe he will listen to you."

Barnabas was about to answer when Quentin came in. "Come" he said, grabbing Barnabas by the sleeve."

"What is it?"

"We have to talk. About Phillip. and about Adam."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"We have to keep Adam locked up." Quentin explained to George. "At least until the madness leaves him."

"You know that if I lock him up, he will make bail in no time. That's the way the legal system works:"

"But he needs to be locked up for his own protection."

"Wyncliffe might be a safer bet." George said.

"Except that Carolyn will get him out." this was Barnabas.

"We can try to explain things to Carolyn."

"I saw Carolyn. When she looks the way she looked, she does not listen to reason. All she knows how is that Vicky is leaving Collinsport and that has her upset. And, unfortunately, and upset Carolyn is a stubborn Carolyn."

"So that leaves us with only one alternative." Quentin said. "the cell in your basement."

"Fine, you kidnap him and lock him up. And I will know nothing about it." George said " that's all I can do in my official position. "

* * *

"You are going to see Barnabas, of course." Sabrina let it be know how little she thought of the idea.

"He's on my schedule. He said that he wants me to talk to Quentin, who has some idea about affordable housing."

"And to tell you how you should run your office, what bills to push, what bills to support, and how to go about it."

"Unsolicited advice is what he does best."

"It is not the unsolicited advice that worries me. It is his possible loss of control"

"That was an exceptional situation."

"Maggie, you push his buttons too much. I do not know why you keep at it. You play this game with him with the memories of 1967. When he wants to talk about it, you have put it behind you. But if he puts it behind him, and lets you know of it, then you start hitting again. You do not want him either to work it out, or forget it. You just enjoy playing games with it."

"Well, he owes me."

"He does not owe it to you to play dangerous games that can end badly. Do you _really_ want him to lose control with you? How many vampires do you know hold elective office? How many have a chance to become Senators? Or have you decided that playing games with Barnabas is more important to you than your political career?"

"Sabrina, you do not understand."

"I understand that it is my job to keep you from destroying yourself. This is worse than Russian Roulette what you are doing."

* * *

The mermaid swam almost in a frenzy as the time approached when the female would emerge, hungry, and ready to mate.

Inside the cave, the female had begun to stir, but was not awake yet. The male knew better than to awaken her. The time approached fast for the creation of a new generation of mermaids and gorgons.

* * *

"What is it that mermaids and gorgons have to do with each other?' Barnabas was still confused as to what Quentin had told him, even if willing to act.

"They are the same species, male and female."

"Is the gorgon the male?"

"No, the mermaid is the male."

"But they look..."

"Right, like human females. But they are _not_ human. They are like fish. Have you seen any fish with mammaries of any kind?"

"But whales and dolphins..."

"Are not fish but mammals. The mermaid is a fish. She's got the scales and gills, which cetaceans lack.. That's what tipped me off. Adam painted his mermaid right, down to the genital opening in the tail. But it was a _male_ genital opening. He did not realize what he was painting, of course..."

"So the gorgon is the female."

"Makes sense. She is the one guarding the eggs, and thus needs a weapon, a weapon that she may use even against the male of the species if he threatens her young. Predator males are known to eat their young, so the females have to be able to discourage them. The tougher the female, the more successful at raising young."

"But why would they want Adam?"

"For food. They are probably a cannibalistic species, and if the male does not offer the female a meal, he can get eaten before he can mate... If they are a cannibalistic species, then the female does eat the male if she gets hungry."

"Any cannibalistic species in which the male eats the female?"

"If they are, they die out. If the males eat the females before they can lay the eggs, or the young, then there is no next generation."

It was not so much the details of the gorgon-mermaid relationship that fascinated Barnabas as was Quentin's attitude. This was not the Quentin he remembered, the one who could never learn anything, nor care for anything nor anyone outside himself.

Adam had indeed given Quentin a new life. Was is so strange that Quentin sought to repay his debt in every possible way?

Here was a Quentin that he would like to have for a friend.

"Do you think that biting him will be enough? The mermaid must have a great deal of power over him."

"Yes. We will play it by ear. Biting him will ensure that we can get him in the cell with a minimum of fuss. But don't be surprised when your control over him disappears."

It did not take them long to find Adam. Adam greeted Quentin, but was hurried, did not really have the time to talk. There was something that he had to do.

Quentin recognized the urgency, so did Barnabas. The mermaid was pulling at him.

"This is not going to take long, Adam." Quentin said.

Adam tried to pull away. He still did not have all the weapons he needed against the dragon. He must... he must...

Quentin coaxed him into a darkened corner, where Barnabas was waiting.

"What do you want me for? " he asked Barnabas irritated. "Explanations for Phillip? He is crazy. He attacked me with a knife. I had to subdue him."

"We know what you have been up to." Quentin grabbed Adam's wrists, pinioning him, as Barnabas bent over his throat.

Adam fought, but Barnabas got the control that he needed.

"You will come to the Old House now. We will continue this conversation later."

Adam went with them reluctantly, Quentin holding him by the arm, just in case.

"When we are done, I got to show you something that I found a couple of miles from here. You may want to paint that." Quentin said aloud. If there were witnesses, they would report the words to Carolyn, should she start looking for him... And Quentin would swear that he had dropped him at a certain spot...

Adam kept tugging at the mental leash that Barnabas held. It was beginning to fray, because his link with the mermaid was that strong. But all they needed was for him to enter the Old House quietly. Once inside, they could wrestle him of they had to.

"What are you doing to me?;" Adam protested, as they entered. "I am getting out of here!"

Of course, being two against one, and one of them with much greater strength, any struggle that Adam put was doomed from the start. He was taken downstairs, to a cell that he knew only too well..

He screamed when he saw it, clawed and bit at Barnabas and Quentin, but could not keep them from throwing him inside and locking the door after him.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"You can't get away with it!" Adam shouted at Barnabas.

Barnabas sighed. "It is for your own good. You do not realize the danger you are in."

"This is kidnapping! This is a Federal Crime!"

"A few days from now you'll thank us for this."

Adam turned his back. They saw his back shiver and shake, and heard a deep sigh from their prisoner.

"You don't understand. I _have_ to be there. It is my last chance for happiness."

'With the mermaid?" Barnabas asked gently.

"And what if it is a mermaid? What difference does it make? Because I am married to Carolyn? Did she ask you to do this? Why? She does not want me, not anymore. She has Roger, and Edmund, and now Eliot. What does she need me for?"

"Carolyn knows nothing of this."

"So why"

"Because the mermaid is not what she seems."

"I know. You are going to tell me all those tales of mermaids drowning sailors. She is not like that. You do not know her. I do."

"It is not a her. It is a him."

Adam laughed. "Of all the silly things! Of course it is a her! You only have to look at her!"

Barnabas wanted to say more, but suspected that mere words would not sway Adam. The mermaid had cast a very powerful spell on him. Strong enough to throw away the influence of his bite in record time..."

"You'll thank us for it one day." he repeated.

"So here it is where you live?" Urien asked David.

"Not much, eh? But at least is has modern conveniences."

"Yes. That helps But I thought that... that it would look more..."

"More expensive? Sorry, teaching assistants are not a very financially secure class. The University exploits us shamefully. And we put up with it because we hope to break into the magical circle of tenured professors. Or hold on until a better job comes along."

"I am not complaining..."

'No, you are not. But I am. I was raised wealthy, and while I tell myself that it does not matter, it still stings... oh, well. I am not going to complain about my childhood Compared to yours, it was a very good childhood."

Urien nodded. David's bitterness did get to him. But then, having been abandoned by his wife, and having turned over his child to his cousin to raise, he probably was bitter as Hell by now.

At least he had a place to stay...

"You know, I have not been admitted yet.."

"Don't worry, you'll get in. You got a good SAT score, and with the work you did in the Marine Lab, and the references you got from them, you are a good prospect. Not to mention the Collins name, which still carries weight... though not with me... I am the scapegrace disinherited one...

"I am sorry.."

"What for? You did not sell me any drugs. I was a drug seller once. And then after I straightened up and started going to college, I started getting high again. With a good cause, but still..

"And now?"

"Now. I do not need it yet. But when I think of how beautifully I screwed up my life, I am tempted... I wonder if Barnabas sent you to me so that you can watch over me, instead of me watching over you..."

* * *

The bracelet burned Adam's wrist. It was a leash, forcing him to go meet his fate, to try to slay the dragon and win the princess. But the walls and door of the cell were in the way, and not matter how much Adam screamed and kicked against them, they would not let him thought. And no matter how much the green bracelet buried itself in his skin, it could not make him leave.

But if somehow the walls were to yield, or the door open...

* * *

"Sabrina" Barnabas did not try to hide his shock. Sabrina in town meant that Maggie was in town, and if Maggie was in town, then Maggie was more than likely to show up at his house, and of all the times...

Even at the best times, there were problems with Maggie.

There was much that hen wanted to say to Maggie, starting by the fact that he was now going to church regularly. But now? Now with Adam locked downstairs, which was bound to bring her the kind of memories that would start them into a psychodrama with no resolution?

"I guess you know what this means." Sabrina said. "Maggie is in town. And you are as happy about it as I am."

"It is not that I do not like you..."

"It is that you and Maggie together are a recipe for disaster. I still recall the last scare we got. Try to figure out a way to avoid meeting her."

* * *

Carolyn faced George "I want to discuss what happened with Phillip."

"I am not going to charge Adam, so you don't need to worry. Phillip attacked him with a knife, and Adam defended himself. And Phillip is going to leave on a rest cure."

"Is there a way that you can keep Phillip around?"

'What for? He would be better off moving to a place not by the sea. Forcing him to remain in Collinsport could do serious damage to him."

"It is that he is leaving, and Vicky is leaving, and Adam..."

George shrugged. What did Carolyn want him to do? To straighten her relationship problems with her husband and her friends? That was not in his job description..

"As far as the law is concerned, there is nothing to be done."

"But apart from the law?"

" I am not the person to ask."

* * *

Of all the times that Maggie could have chosen to come, it was now when he had to deal with an angry Adam, and keep him safe from mermaids and gorgons.

The tuxedo cat climbed up his leg, asking to be petted. He stroked it absentmindedly.

Too bad that Maggie wasn't allergic to cats...

What was that Maggie really wanted from him? He knew that he owed her for what he had done in 1967. but what to pay, and in what form, neither he nor she seemed to have an idea what would be satisfactory. The only thing that they seemed to agree on was to keep on digging the wound, poking it, and trying to make sense of it...

Perhaps it had been better when she exploited it to have power over him. Then the arrangement was a simple one. But he had had to upset it, demanding that he should have the right to dissent from her dictates...

It had been better that way...

* * *

"Adam" Quentin insisted. "You must listen to me. She is not what you think she is."

"Hah!" Adam snorted. "I already heard that from Barnabas."

"It is true."

"I thought you were my friend."

"I am. We are friends. I am very fond of you, Adam."

"But you refuse to help me."

"I am helping you."

'How? By stealing my only chance for happiness? Do you want her for yourself?"

"Adam..."

It was like talking to a stone wall. No matter what he said, no matter how much proof he brought, Adam would refuse to see it. The spell that the mermaid had cast on him was a very potent one. He would have to ask Angelique to remove it, and see if that made Adam see reason.

* * *

"I was just leaving." Barnabas said as Maggie came up to his doorstep.

"Well, you can have it here, and invite me in." She undid her collar.

He winced. "I'd rather not, considering what happened last time."

"That was a problem you had. It is solved, now. There should be no reason..."

He shook his head. "No, too many bad memories. There is a lot of stuff that I do not want stirred up."

"You don't?"

"No. I am trying to get over it... Come walk with me/"

Walk with him? He did not want her to come inside. Why? What was he hiding, this time.

Did he have another prisoner in the cell?

Better humor him. Then when he was asleep she would sneak in and see what he was hiding.

So they walked towards her car, talking about Reagan and his incredible luck that allowed him to get away with things that others Presidents with less charisma would have had to pay dearly.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Maggie knew what Sabrina would say about it. That her imagination was on the loose, and that her obsession with Barnabas was reaching the danger point. That she had no proof that Barnabas was hiding anything, unless it was that she made him uncomfortable. And what was so surprising about that? Their relationship was a disaster waiting to happen, and he had every right to keep contact with her to a minimum.

But what did Sabrina know? Barnabas was too secretive, with that special face he put when he was lying, when excuses came too many and too fast. She knew when Barnabas lied, and he had been lying to her.

Well, it was daytime. She had been stubborn about seeing Barnabas again after dark, and had finally let Sabrina convince her not to. Sabrina was less concerned about what she did in the daytime, and would not shadow her steps. So she had sent her to discuss some health policy matter with Julia and her husband - saying that she did not feel comfortable with Julia...

Sabrina had accepted it, no, had been glad. Maggie and Julia could get as nasty as Maggie and Barnabas. After all, Julia had betrayed her trust as a patient in 1967 and Maggie could not help pointing it out and watching Julia squirm..

As she left for Wyncliffe, Sabrina wondered if she could solve her problem by staking Barnabas... tempting, but she doubted that she would get off scott free.

Well, it was daytime. She would see to Julia, and Maggie would work the locals,. She had said that she wanted to talk to Deputy Hamell, who was very likely going to be the next sheriff, about the helicopter he wanted for Collinsport..

Very likely she would use the time to get nasty with George Brant. Well, that was tolerable. Nothing like what might happen with Barnabas...

Maggie watched Sabrina leave, and smiled. She finally had gotten rid of that watchdog...

Now to get inside the Old House. Urien was out of town, and Barnabas was completely out of it. Which meant that she could get in and spy as much as she wanted. And when it was done, Sabrina could complain and fume as much as she wanted. She would have done what she had come to do."

Barnabas was not in the habit of locking the Old House. He usually left those details to whoever was with him at the time. And if no one was there, well, it did not get done...

It was very convenient to have servants who took care of the details. And Barnabas had grown up spoiled that way... She wondered how much easier it would have been for everybody if Barnabas had grown up taking care of himself instead of being assigned a servant for whatever he needed. He'd made a lot less stupid decisions, maybe...

As she expected, she got easily enough. Really, it was a miracle that non one had burglarized the Old House. Of course, Barnabsa' condition might have soemthing to do with it. But criminals tended to be rather stupid and taht would not be a deterrent forever...

She studied the parlor. Yes, the room was just as it had been the last time. Josette's portrait was gone. Well, it would be difficult of Barnabas to profess his devotion while he and George...

And then she heard the doorknob turn...

Someone was coming in."Maggie, what are you doing here?" Quentin asked.

"Looking for you." she said, brazen. "They said that you may be here. And that there was something you wanted to discuss with me. Your plans for affordable housing."

"But how did you know to find me here?'

"They told me a the hotel that this was one place to look for you."

"And you got in how?'

"Barnabas' habit of not locking the door. Really. One day he's going to get up and find out that all his furniture is gone."

"Yes. We are trying to tell him to lock up, but, well, he is not in the habit of doing it for himself. I finally learned, but him... And now it is worse with his religious crisis."

"Religious crisis?"

"Yes. Thanks to an exorcism he participated in, he is no longer repelled by crosses. Which means that he can go to Church. Which means that he spends a great deal of time there. It _is_ disconcerting, but we are adjusting to it. Well, as you can imagine, when you are contemplating the mysteries of God's mercy you cannot be bothered to lock up."

"Oh, well, he is what he is... Say can I have a drink?'

"By all means." Quentin was a bit disconcerted by Maggie. Sure, he wanted to talk about affordable housing and Maggie could control the flow of money. But Maggie seemed to have a hidden agenda... A hidden agenda that he knew too well. Quentin Collins was sexy and had a bad boy vibe that women found irresistible. How long would be before Maggie put her hand in an inappropriate place and invited him to "come up and see me sometime."?

There was a time when he did not mind, when he actually enjoyed and exploited it. But those days were gone...

On top of that, he had to go check on Adam, make sure that he was comfortable, and try to reason with him.

But first he had to be firm but polite in convincing Maggie to leave.

He poured two glasses of brandy. He wondered what would be the best way to handle Maggie. Truth to tell, she was attractive. If only she was not so predatory about it...

"Here," He gave her one glass while he sipped from the other. "Let's talk business."

"Only business?" there was slight teasing in her words.

"Only business."

"You, Quentin Collins wanting to talk only business with an attractive woman... I cannot believe it."

"You are attractive, Maggie. But you can do me a lot of damage if I insult you in any way. I do not know how far to go."

"You can go quite far."

Quentin shook his head. "No, because anything that you give me because you like what I do to you, you can take the moment I no longer please you. This is too important for it."

Maggie sighed. "Are you playing hard to get?"

"I want to leave such playing for afterwards. Now there are too many families with no place to go because rentals are too high and too many apartments are being converted to high scale places. That's what I care about now."

"And I..."

"You are an attractive woman. Also a powerful one. Power can be aphrodisiac, and it would be easy for me to give in."

But you do not want to?

"Not now."

"I see."

"Maggie, it would be much better if we continued this conversation in your office, with Sabrina there. I care too much about the subject to allow it to become foreplay."

"My, my, are you getting picky in your old age..."

"Yes." Quentin got up, uncomfortable and walked around. "I am sorry, Maggie. What I want and what you want are two different things. "It would be better if you left."

Maggie sighed, a deeply offended sigh. "Well, you know how to rebuff a lady, don't you?" She walked behind him.. He was uncomfortable as Hell, which meant that he did not watch her. She had the paperweight in her hand. and in the moment that he turned his head away, in disgust, she hit him on the head.

He was only stunned, but she lost no time tying him up.. Then, once she was sure she had plenty of time, she went down to the cellar, to the cell.. She knew where the keys were.

Who was in the cell? Another girl who reminded him of Josette? Not likely. George Brant was not likely to put up with that.

"Adam!" she said with surprise. "So it is you that he has locked up!"

"Get me out of here! I got something to do You must help me."

She opened the door for him. "Why did they lock you up?"

"Follow me, it is important."

"What is it?"

"I will tell you later."

On the way out they passed Quentin's' unconscious, trussed up body.. They did not spare him a look. They had more important things to do.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"You mean they kept you locked up so that you could not come to the beach?" Maggie asked Adam. "For that?"

"There was something that they did not want me to find out. m Something that Barnabas is afraid of."

Maggie was not sure what that could be or why. But if it meant hurting Barnabas, she was all for it. And who knows what Barnabas was up to? She had never believe that he was truly the nice reformed character that everybody took him for. There _was_ something nasty about him, still, something that should be found out, and if Adam was the one to find it.

"I will help you. Let's go get all the equipment you need. You can put it in my credit card."

* * *

"Angelique, Adam has done it. He's going to be eaten by a Gorgon, or turned to stone. You have to help us."

He was breathless. First he had to free himself . Maggie had not bothered to take the penknife from his back pocket), then he had raced downstairs to find Adam gone (Barnabas had been OK), and then he had raced to find Angelique. He was speaking fast, and probably not making much sense.

"Maybe you should let it happen. You cannot save people from their own stupidity."

"He's not stupid. He's bespelled."

Angelique sighed. Pregnancy made her cautious. Any energy of her own that she expended in her craft, was energy stolen from her baby, so she was stingy with it.

It was not that she did not wish Adam ill. It was that she did not wish to tangle with a Gorgon. Who knew what might happen if the Gorgon did not feed on Adam? Better that only Adam suffer, and not the whole town.

It was Adam's fault. He should have remembered all the warnings about mermaids. If he chose to disregard danger as he did, why couldn't he face the consequences? As for Maggie, well those who look for trouble usually end up finding it...

"I have to save them, Angelique. both of them."

On the other hand, if anything happened to Maggie, she might have to deal with a very angry Sabrina...

"All right. I will help you. but you'll have to do most of the work. I am pregnant now and cannot take risks."

* * *

Maggie saw Adam dive under the waters.

The doubt kept nagging her. What could be Barnabas's secret? Why underwater? That would be a most unlikely place for Barnabas to hide anything...

And Quentin too... Somehow the story that Adam had told her did not make fully sense. Perhaps she should have asked him questions instead of knocking him out and leaving him.

No. She had made her choices. She had to live by them. And she owed it to Barnabas. She had to show him up for what he was, and destroy all the lies he had built around himself. Did he really expect her to behave as if nothing had ever happened between the two of them?

...Only that it was wrong...

No, that's what Sabrina would say. What did Sabrina know? Sabrina had never been locked up in that cell.

* * *

Adam swam deeper and deeper. He had his weapons with him. With them he would slay the dragon and claim the beautiful princess. Then he would reign in the kingdom beneath the sea and never come back to Collinsport.

He saw the mermaid wafting for him, welcoming him as she swam in quick circles in front of him. She guided him to the Bearded Stones, where he saw the fish entangled in the kelp. They were to be consumed in the wedding feast, the mermaid explained. They were to be wed as soon as he had slain the dragon.

The mermaid swam faster and faster. The water carried to him the message that the female was awakening, and was filled with unfertilized eggs. That drew him forward to fill his need to fertilize them.

He also knew that the female was hungry, and that if he approached too fast, he would die instead of mating...

Only this human creature would quell the hunger.

Only the human would allow him to mate.

He swam over the opening of the cave where the female began to arouse itself from the long sleep that preceded mating.

The female knew her own needs, to deposit the eggs in the presence of the male. And the need of her hunger, too. She trusted the male outside to do as males did: send food ahead of him. If the male failed, then he would be devoured, the mating would fail, and she could only hope that another male was nearby.

Some of the food could fight. But they usually did not fight hard enough that she would feel threatened and turn on the petrifying state on them.

If that happened, then the male would be devoured, and she would have to hope for another male to show up before her eggs died inside her.

* * *

Quentin clutched the protective amulet that Angelique had given him. And the knife and mirror, too. No more was needed to destroy the gorgon, Angelique had said. The mirror could petrify her if she looked into it, and the knife was guaranteed to slice cleanly through her neck.

He hoped that it would be enough. By her own confession Angelique did not know much about gorgons. Only that a mirror could be the best defense. And a knife capable of slicing through anything, no matter how tough was the best weapon that could be found... And what the protective amulet did was allow him to breathe under water.

He should not complain. She had done her best in a short time. She did not know much, she was unsure that helping Adam was the right thing to do, if in endangered anyone else. And still she helped him.

* * *

Adam went into the cave, keeping his eye on the huge armored tail that extended below him. A blow with that tail and it could be over. He had to find the head first.

The tail moved. Quickly, Adam moved into a crevice and managed to escape the blow He waited. Did the dragon sense his presence? Or had it moved by reflex?

The tail stilled and Adam moved out of the crevice. All the had to do was reach the head...

Then the tail moved again. It curled quickly and caught him.

He pulled the trigger on the harpoon. It stung the monster and it released its coi8ls.

Adam raced out of the cave. It would not work that way, no. He had to make the dragon leave the cave, head first. Then, as the head emerged out of the cave, he could try harpooning it. Between the eyes. Or on the back of the neck..

He swam around the mouth of the cave, pushing rocks into the creature's direction, hoping to make it turn around and go towards the entrance.

The mermaid saw this and understood what Adam meant to do. It had not been the first time that the human prey sought to outwit the hungry female. And the male knew how to handle such reluctant prey.

The gorgon turned around, slowly, still fighting the slumber, but aware of the food hovering near the mouth of the cave. Food that she would find speared at the entrance, blood still streaking from its wound.

Quentin saw the mermaid lifting the trident against Adam's unprotected back. He could not waste any time. He charged.

The knife cut through the mermaid like butter..

The body fell, cut in two., as the gorgon emerged scenting the blood.

Quentin fumbled for the mirror. This should protect against the gorgon. He flashed it into the creature's direction.

The flash of light distracted the gorgon as Adam approached it. She looked into the glass, but since she was not using her petrifying glance, she remained unaffected.

The gorgon attacked Quentin. She hit him with her tail, making him drop the knife. Another flick of her tail, and she had knocked the harpoon out of Adam's hands.

Then she swooped down and swallowed the half mermaid on the ground,. The one that that looked human.

Adam swam for his harpoon, and he found Quentin's knife. It was sharp

Quentin saw what Adam was doing and swam in front of the gorgon distracting her from Adam, carrying the mirror as protection.

Adam was now at the back of the gorgon and began to saw through its neck.

The gorgon roared silently, showing its sharp teeth, her eyes changing color, looking wildly around.

Quentin had enough sense to duck behind the boulders, lifting the mirror. If she should look into it.

Adam sawed through the neck, and the head fell.

Adam lifted it. Quentin hoped that he did not look into her eyes...

Adam lifted it, and looked for the mermaid, which had disappeared. But she was gone... And gone was his desire for her...

He had a trophy. A trophy to show everyone... And he had to get out before he drowned.

He swam upwards and so did Quentin behind him. When he caught up with him, he would put the mirror in front of the gorgon's eyes and destroy her power...

Adam was shaken by his prize. Snakes... snakes for hair... he seemed to remember something about it.

He should not look into its eyes, he remembered.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Maggie saw Adam surface and let out a sigh of relief. What if he had drowned? But no, he was all right. And he was carrying something. Probably that what Barnabas did not want him to find out.

Well, she could now tell Barnabas that he had failed, and gloat to his face.

Oh, yes, she was going to gloat! He owed it to her.

Adam reached the shore, tired and out of breath. His gills had closed as he was reaching for the surface, and there had been desperation in his last strokes. He might never break the surface, never breath air again... But he had made it. He sucked in air deeply almost tasting the oxygen...

"So you got it!" Maggie said. "you did it!"

"Yes." Adam was not sure what she meant but nodded agreement.

"What is it? Let me see."

She reached for it before he could order his thoughts and brought the head to eye level.

She became stone in half a second.

* * *

Urien felt uneasy sleeping in the same apartment as David. There was a certain tension in the air and he did not know what to attribute it to.

It was not David. He had been cordial enough. It was something else. Something against which he had brushed once, and to which he did not want to come close to again.

Could it be the apartment itself? David had shared the apartment with Hallie and his son. Now Hallie was gone and Elliot lived with Carolyn... could it be that the apartment itself had not wanted them there?

Nonsense, how could an apartment want or not want?

Very easily, he reminded himself, where members of the Collins family were involved.

In which case all the could hope was that the apartment thought kindly of him. If no, then he would have _some_ problem.

* * *

Adam stared, open mouthed at the petrified Maggie. What had he done? She was dead, he had killed her... He had not wanted to... He had only wanted to...

Why had he carried the head with him? Why hadn't he left it where it had fallen?

It did no good. He had killed Maggie Evans. He was a fool... what had he expected? To marry the mermaid? But now he knew that the mermaid would have killed him if the gorgon did not. That was what Quentin said, that the mermaid was the male, and the gorgon the female. That the mermaid probably wanted to offer him as food for the gorgon, so as not to be devoured himself.

He had dismissed it as nonsense when Quentin said it, but it was not.

They had locked him up to protect him, but he had escaped and thus he had doomed Maggie.

Down the beach, Tammy and Joe approached him.

"That's Adam" Tammy said. "But what is that thing next to him? It seems like a statue."

"Well, he probably switched from painting to sculpture."

"But a statue here?"

They approached Adam "Did you do this?" Tammy asked, admiring the great likeness to Maggie that the statue had.

"Yes." Adam admitted, sobbing.

"But why put it near the water?"

"What is this?" Joe said pointing to an object by Adam's feet. He bent down and picked it up.

"No!" Adam shouted. "Not again! Put it down!"

But it was too late. Joe had become petrified.

"Joe!" Tammy shouted She reached for what Joe was holding.

Adam finally reacted. He took her by the arm and pushed her away. "Don't let it look at you, or you too..."

Tammy understood. "You! You did this to him! You turned him to stone, same as Maggie!"

She began to hit Adam, who did not defend himself. Yes, he had done this. He deserved to be punished.

"And this thing too!" she circled around it, avoiding its dead gaze "I should thrown it back into the sea!"

"No." Adam ventured to say "There may be a way to reverse the process. We may need the head for it."

That Tammy could understand. She took a deep breath, took off her jacked and wrapped the head in it.

"I guess it is safe enough to handle now. No way that anyone can be in front of her eyes."

Adam nodded. Yes, it was safer now.

"We can't leave them here. The water and salt will do them little good."

"We may need help to carry them."

"So go get it."

By then Quentin had gotten there. He looked at the two statues and sighed.

"You had to bring the head, didn't you?" he said resignedly.

"Yes." Adam admitted. "But it may be that between Angelique and Julia, they can be restored."

* * *

"You got the gorgon head?" Julia asked Angelique.

"Yes. In the freezer. That will make it keep. It does not work on inanimate objects, or I'd have no freezer now. It does work on all kinds of living things. I got a most beautiful sculpture of an hydroponic lettuce." You'll have to be careful to get samples out of it. Actually I don't think it is such a good idea to perform tests at all. I am tempted to put it in front of the mirror.

"That would doom Maggie and Joe, unless you know of another way to restore them."

"I don't. but I don't want to make things worse, and while that head is there, there is always the danger of someone else being turned to stone... I know that it is heartless, but it might have been better if Quentin had abandoned Adam to his fate.

Julia wanted to protest, but didn't. Two innocent people, Maggie and Joe had already paid the price. And Tammy. Who knows how many more could the head claim if they were careless around it? Even she, herself, could be turned to stone. And all because Adam still refused to grow up.

"In any case, we'll get to learn something about gorgons and mermaids."

"Like it is wise to avoid both."

"And that they are the same species, male and female... it would make an interesting scientific paper."

"Maybe, if you think that the risk is worth it."

* * *

Sabrina glared at Quentin and Barnabas. "What do you mean, Maggie turned to stone?"

"Exactly that. She got in the path of a gorgon's glare, and she was turned to stone."

"But how? Do you have it here?"

"Of course not" Barnabas protested "Do you expect me to keep such a dangerous thing around?"

"So how come?"

"I had Adam locked up in the basement for his own protection. Maggie set him free and Adam went into the water to kill the gorgon. And, like an idiot, he brought the head back. Maggie got in its path, and so did Joe Haskell. Now they are statues, both of them."

"It is all your fault, then!" Sabrina shouted at Barnabas.

"No, it is yours." Quentin said. "It is your job to keep Maggie on a tight leash when she comes to Collinsport. You know how she gets around Barnabas."

"I warned him that she was here, and to make himself scarce!"

"Maggie came in the daytime. What did you expect him to do, then? Why did you leave her alone?"

"You should have kept the door locked!"

"And you should have been at all times with her. Damn it, she _is_ your responsibility." Quentin insisted.

"Three is no point in auguring this." Barnabas intervened "for all we know, Angelique has found the answer by now, and you will get Maggie back."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"You are aware that you have been a complete fool, don't you?" George said. "falling for that 'perfect woman' crap."

"Well, you can say it. You are in no danger of ever doing it."

George shook his head. "I am not going to lose my temper. But I am going to give you advice. Forget about dreamgirls. Dreams are not real. Try to patch things up with your wife. And if that does not work, get a divorce and find a woman who is no perfect, nor your dreams, but that you can live with. Learn to appreciate real women."

"Carolyn did not turn out the way I expected."

"She's no dreamgirl, sure. But then you did not turn up the way she expected. So just go and see if you two can still have a future."

* * *

"She was right." Quentin said to Barnabas. "I should have locked the door."

"There is no point in distributing the blame, is there? I don't lock it as often as I should. I know that it is a bad habit... and if I had not made Maggie suspicious when she came to see me, this could have been avoided.

"It could have been avoided if I had let Adam take care of himself."

"You could not have done that."

"Yes. But what is the net result? Both Maggie and Joe as good as dead, and Adam at large, with no guarantee that he won't get into worse trouble tomorrow."

"You used to be like that, once."

"I know, and because of that I made allowances for Adam. But I don't know... I just don't know.

"Adam never had much of a normal development."

"I am aware of that. No the question is, is Adam's life worth that of two people? Why should Joe be sacrificed so that Adam may live? Maggie, well, it was her fault, in part. But Joe was just an innocent bystander."

"Innocent bystanders always get hurt."

"Well, it should not be that way."

* * *

"Well," Sabrina was impatient. "have you restored her yet?"

"No" Angelique said wearily.

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Julia has too many tests to run."

"Julia? What? Haven't you got any spells?"

"None. This is something I never learned."

"Some witch you are. You know nothing or mermaids and gorgons..."

"Well, never had the chance to learn about them. I need Julia to help find the answer."

"And how long will that take you?"

"Months, maybe."

"You must be kidding!"

"I am not."

"You just don't want to restore Maggie. You hate her. She looks like Josette, and you can't forgive her for that."

"Don't be silly."

"I am not silly. That's the whole story, isn't it?"

"What good would it do me to keep Maggie as she is? If I were doing what you accuse me of, shouldn't George Brant be the one turned to stone? Maggie is not my rival, has not been for a long time."

"But she could be."

"And rain could fall upwards... Sabrina, I can offer you a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"It is obvious that Maggie can't fulfill the duties of her office in the shape she is in. I can solve the problem on a temporary basis. I can create a doppelganger which no one will be able to tell from the real Maggie."

"You must be crazy."

"That's all I can offer now. Take it or leave it."

Sabrina seethed. There must be someone whom she could kick for all this, someone to put the blame on, someone of whom to demand that things were set right.

But it was impossible. And what Angelique offered was the best that she could expect.

"All right," she grumbled. "make me that doppelganger."

* * *

Urien did not like lying there. It was not the couch itself. It was the room. Something evil seemed to seep from the walls.

It could be his imagination. He wanted it to be his imagination. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

And he saw Robert Loomis again.

He opened his eyes with shock. No, not him.

He stared at the walls, at the ceiling. There was evil coming from the walls...

And if he closed his eyes not to see it, he would see Loomis again.

"Hey, kid!"

"You are not here!"

"She killed me. She did it. Tell them that. And tell them that she is coming back for them, that they got something she wants."

"What is it?'

"They will find out."

* * *

Tammy sobbed. How could such a stupid thing happen to Joe? And so easily, without warning?

They said that Angelique could fix it, and then that it could take time...

And maybe Angelique could do nothing. And Joe was as good as dead...

Why had they gone to the beach? Why had they gotten close to Adam? Why had Joe picked up the head? Why...?

Why couldn't she get Joe back?

* * *

Sabrina had to admit that the doppelganger was an excellent likeness of Sabrina.

"Well, it could fool me." she admitted grudgingly. "But will it do for the Washington Press Corps?"

"Not unless they had a strong suspicion that there was something wrong with her. That is going to be your job, deflecting those suspicions. And I say that you have a good chance of doing it. There is little reason for anyone to suspect hat the Margaret Evans who went to visit her district is not the same one that returned."

"Will this doppelganger know the right things to say and do?"

"I made her as much like Maggie as I could. Of course, when Maggie comes back, she will have to endorse the decisions her doppelganger made, or come up for a good reason not to."

* * *

"Well, that's another nice mess." George said dryly to Barnabas. "Maggie has become her own statute."

"I don't see anything funny about it. Add what happened to Joe..."

"Yes, Joe. But somehow I find it difficult to feel sorry about Maggie. She looked for trouble and she found it. And if you stopped making excuses for her, you'd see it too."

"I don't make excuses for her."

"You do. All the time. All right. I see your point. You hurt her terribly in 1967, and you feel awful about it. But she's gotten a free ride on it for too long." he put his arms around Barnabas's neck "Enough of that. You and Quentin have done all you could. Now it is up to Angelique and Julia. If there is something that we can do, they'll tell us. Until then, we have to go on."

"Poor Tammy."

"Yes. That could well be your next project. Keep cheering her up so that she does not give in to despair."

"And nothing else?'"

"Not until Julia and Angelique tell us what we can do."


End file.
